Insert Quirky Sentence

No, Beestar must've misunderstood. It was a seer's duty to interpret visions, not a leader's. It was understandable that he'd make such a mistake, given ThunderClan had lost its only seer. Perhaps StarClan would interfere in the following moons. Some seer would have a dream, and she could rest assured that StarClan did not stand with Orchidshade.

If anything, things only worsened.

Beestar welcomed with open arms a RiverClan cat into their camp. Orchidshade's mate. He'd reasoned that they needed a seer, a healer, and that Bitterapple would stay just until another seer was crowned.

Sweetdew was made a healer, but she was not crowned. Instead, the RiverClan guppy remained, waddling about in their territory with that pityfully sad look on his face—as if he wasn't feeding ThunderClan's secrets to his leader behind their backs. Hollypelt begrudgingly tolerated it. The Clan needed a seer. If only StarClan would do their job and choose a ThunderClan cat.

Strangely, there was a large amount of ThunderClan cats who approved of the Law change. Didn't they see her brother's desecrated corpse? Did they forget poor Doefreckle, sitting in the healer's den being treated by an enemy warrior of a Clan responsible for her brother's death, blinded by the same cat who the new Law now protected?

As the moons came and went, Hollypelt only grew more and more frustrated. The Clan... moved on. And so did StarClan.

The sign she so eagerly awaited never came, Gatherings passed with no news of a sudden vision that'd reverse the changes. Bitterapple never left their camp. Worse yet, Squirrelwhisker was a few moons out of apprenticeship when she announced a relationship with a WindClan heir.

She was met with some disgust and outrage. Some. Mostly from the older cats in the Clan. Beestar did nothing to punish her, in fact he turned a blind eye as she happily chatted about a cross-Clan ceremony with Nettlebreeze and Misthawk.

It was this that led Hollypelt to Beestar's den, hoping, pleading that he'd come to his senses. This wasn’t what Oakstar would've wanted, this was not why he had been chosen as deputy. But Beestar brushed her words aside and scolded her. As if she still had kitten fluff. As if she didn't have to bury feathers because her brother's corpse was too rotten to move.

It was then and there that Hollypelt lost faith in her leader.

She brought it up in conversation with the other warriors, but only one seemed to take her side; Thrushtalon. A tom who'd soon become her mate and partner in crime.

Hollypelt also found a kindred spirit in Doefreckle. The molly never fully recovered, atleast Hollypelt thought so. She choose to become a caretaker, looking after the many kits that now blessed ThunderClan. One of which was her own little fluffball.

The more they talked, the more Hollypelt knew she could trust her. Doefreckle was anything but weak. To live through the deaths of one's entire family and remain standing was something Hollypelt understood well. Her father was taken by the war early in her and her brother's life, and her mother was a loner surrogate she'd never known. It had been just Holly and Crow for a good few moons.

Now its just Holly.

She soon grew impatient. If StarClan wasn’t going to intervene, then it was up to her to make the change her Clan needed. And so, she began to scheme. She built the skeleton of what would soon be a coup, and reasoned that it was for ThunderClan's good.

At her behest, Thrushtalon began contacting the older warriors. He swayed them to her side, planted the seed of rebellion in their heads, while also keeping an eye out for troublesome cats who might present a threat to their plan.

Displeased, Fate made sure to throw a few hurdles her way. Mainly a surprise pregnancy and the sudden arrival of another RiverClan tom, Orchidshade's spawn.

To her upmost annoyance, Palmbark's natural charisma landed him a good reputation. Orchidshade's blood seemed to incovenience him rather than impede him. But his skill was undeniable, and there was nothing that swayed a ThunderClan warrior more than skill, strength and loyalty—which he demonstrated by being an exceptionally good hunter, and by giving up his own warrior name to accept one bestowed by ThunderClan instead.

Palmbark was the forbidden son of a murderer and a seer. His legacy was drenched in filth... Then why did he thrive in ThunderClan?

She pushed those thoughts aside, focusing on the tiny black bundle nuzzled up to her belly. She thought of naming him Crow, but figured it would be bad luck. With his young age, Crow either had already experienced rebirth, or would be reborn soon. If her son held his soul, then she wanted him to live a different, longer life. Thus, she named him Jay instead.

Jay was very timid. He didn't inherit her fierce will nor his father's intensiveness. He was a quiet kit, just like Crowwing had been.

As she watched him play with leaves, an idea came to Hollypelt's mind. It was a sinful idea, something that'd break one of the most important Laws the Clans upheld. But StarClan would understand. To save her Clan, she needed to make a few sacrifices.

It was startling easy to mold her son into a healer. He wasn't interested in herbs, but he learned quickly, and she knew StarClan would crown him as soon as he was of age. It tugged at her heartstrings to see him frustrated and anxious, but Jay had to understand. This was best for both of them, for all of them.

As she expected, StarClan did indeed give her son a vision upon his first visit to the Moon Falls. When Jay comes back, he's jumpy and trembling, but she's able to coax out what he'd seen. Jay tells her of a dream where the forest wilted under Beestar's shadow.

Pleased, she spreads the news. And her allies grow rebellious, the tension only growing as Squirrelwhisker has her half-blood kit.

Fights began breaking out, the Clan dividing between those who believe StarClan disapproved of Beestar, and those who still sided with the false leader. Despite her young age, Hollypelt found herself being respected by the rebels, and aimed to transform that respect into loyalty.

It was surprisingly easy, made easier by Beestar's attempts to further alienate them by deliberately refusing to give any of the rebels an apprentice. Hollypelt sharpened their anger into a stake, and aimed it right at Beestar's heart.

Squirrelwhisker's little hare grew and so did the rebel's ire. Hollypelt gave them voice, clambering atop Highrock to give one last warning; exile Squirrelwhisker and Wind. Or else.

But like every other time, Beestar attempted to stiffle her with petty punishments and the cold shoulder.

So Hollypelt put her plan in motion. She fashioned herself a necklace of twine, bone, and butterfly wings to honor her brother—then gathered the rebels and set out to ambush Beestar, leaving behind Doefreckle in an attempt to spare her the battle.

The following conflict was a bloodbath. Hollypelt was so enthralled by the violence that she didn't see her precious little birdie slipping away to tell a thing or two.

The patrol fought and fought, but it was all for nothing. Owlfoot—the deputy—was killed, and the rest captured, among whom were Palmbark and Beestar. Hollypelt shivered with pleasure as she pinned down that beaten farse of a leader. She was delighted to finish him off and watch his remaining lives bleed away painfully.

Before all that gathered there and beneath the heavy gaze of StarClan, Hollypelt declared herself victorious with a yowl. The name of ThunderClan's true leader is Crowskull, she declared, giving herself the blessing to lead.

She stepped towards Palmbark, fully intending to kill him. Just as she held down fate and traded looks with glory, a heavy weight knocked her from behind.

Cats surged into the clearing and swiftly turned the tides. Crowskull traded blows with her attacker, only to realize it was her friend, her Doefreckle.

She fought, but betrayal and shock made her sloppy. Crowskull almost took Doefreckle's voice, but Doefreckle took her life.

The rebels lost, and the remains of Beestar's patrol were rescued. ThunderClan returned home; battered, grieving, and shaky. In the uncertainty, it is Doefreckle who steps up to claim leadership and nominate Palmheart as deputy.

Doefreckle then deals out punishment. For Thrushtalon, it is to be confined in the healer den as a healer and helper to Bitterapple, sentenced to heal those he hurt.

For Creekdapple and Fallowsong it is early retirement and the stripping of their freedom. Something particularly devastating to the latter molly, who only left the apprentice's den a few moons ago.

For the apprentices who participated, it is a late warrior ceremony and caretaker duty, one moon for each cat killed.

And for herself, the duty to shoulder a Clan she no longer loves while being disowned by her only remaining family.

Shorthly after his death, however, Orchidshade revealed to her Clan that she now carried kits. She planned to raise them alone, implying they were Borrowed Blood* from some outsider, but as Doefreckle questioned if they were her brother's, Orchidshade saw an opportunity. She failed to correct Doefreckle, and carried on thanking StarClan for the opportunity to have her kits be born with a strong legacy*—not thinking of what would happen when she eventually revealed their true parentage.

* Borrowed Blood are cats whose parentage comes from outsiders; kittypets, loners, rogues, etc. Blood borrowing is quite common in Clan culture for mateless cats who want to experience parenthood, and is also necessary to prevent inbreeding.

* Legacy is a very important part of Clan culture. It is believed that one needs to be known and achieve great things in order to be recognized in the eyes of StarClan. Cats related to great figures such as leaders, deputies and important warriors have an easier time garnering respect and extablishing their legacy. If one's legacy is stained with the actions of a code breaker, it is significantly hard to prove yourself different from said code breaker.

Bitterapple was made aware of the pregnancy, but he wasn't nearly as happy as Orchidshade. Plagued with nightmares and creeping exhaustion from the war, he began questioning himself and his decisions, growing more and more distant from his ThunderClan mate. His nightmares were visions of drowning cats and a ThunderClan molly surrounded by dead cuckoos, which he knew had something to do with Orchidshade, but didn’t quite know how to interpret it.

Crowwing, the young ThunderClan seer just barely out of apprenticeship also recieved a warning. He had already been suspicious of Orchidshade, given the odd sensation he had whenever he was close to her. When the kits were just three moons old, barely making full sentences, he recieved an omen. An omen of three reeds washing into his den. Inexperienced as he was, he misinterpreted the omen to mean that Orchidshade's kits did not belong in ThunderClan, and sought to expose her to his leader.

Furious, Oakstar exiled the queen and her three tiny kits. Doefreckle, who'd only found peace from her growing emptyness in the fact that her brother lived on through 'his' kits, grew as wrathful as a jaguar. She gave Orchidshade a scar of death, and shadowed her every step out of the Clan's territory.

Orchidshade attempted to cross the river and find shelter in her mate's Clan, but the cruel River, known to be ruthless with those of ThunderClan descent, dragged her and her babbling kits underneath just as it'd done to Brightmask. A RiverClan patrol attempted to save them, but the three kits were lost to the currents.

Bitterapple was horrified to have learned of his mate and kit's fate, and blamed himself for breaking the Law when he knew he was closest to StarClan. How foolish of him to assume his ancestors would bat an eye at his transgressions, just because he was a Vessel. Scared and guilty, he asked his leader to allow the molly to stay, but Darkstar saw it differently. If she were to house an exile from a warring Clan, one who bore a mark of death, then the conflict would be never ending. With that in mind, she cast away Orchidshade.

Sick, grieving and running a fever, Orchidshade dragged herself away. Constantly, she had visions and hallucinations of her kits, and so followed their calls in an attempt to find them.

Unbeknowst to her, two of her kits were found dead; Patch and Petal. But Palm survived, and was swiftly taken to Bitterapple to be to cared for. He'd lost much of his respect within the Clan, but he was also the only seer StarClan had given them, and THEY had given no sign of crowning one of RiverClan's healers to replace him. Bitterapple held very complicated feelings regarding his son, but he tried to push them away to care for him.

Orchidshade eventually ended up in Myler's barn, a sweet kittypet who cared for her despite her constant snapping and grumpy growling. She was stubborn, but her body was frail, and so she had to stay longer than she wanted. The two spoke, and grew slightly close, before Orchidshade fled the barn back into the forest, haunted by the clacking of beaks and flutter of wings.

* Squirrel Cuckoos are named "Cat Souls" in portuguese. In this AU, they'd be a sign that a dead cat was lingering in the mortal plane.

She traveled to the Moon Falls, and found Crowwing there alone. Driven by anger and resentment, she threw him over the waterfall, his body impaled by one of the jagged rocks on the bottom. The other seers buried him, but she saw him as undeserving of respect due to the fact that his actions had led to her kit's deaths, and so she dug him back up and let the scavengers feast.

Bitterapple was struck with realization when he saw the body, a single cuckoo perched upon the bloody spike where it had been impaled. He tried to reason that it couldn't be true, but as he curled around Palm at night, he knew his visions had been a warning of what Orchidshade had become.

Orchidshade went on to seek Doefreckle. She'd learned earlier from her younger brother, Nettle, that the molly had followed her down to the river. Orchidshade believed Doefreckle stood there, watching her kits die. In reality, the molly had fled as soon the RiverClan patrol approached.

She ambushed Doefreckle on Snakerocks, leading her right onto the path of a serpent. Doefreckle was bitten on the eye, while her attempted murderer slinked back into the undergrowth. Doefreckle would come to miraculously survive this wound, at the price of her sight.

Finally, to avenge her last wailing kit, Orchidshade set her sights on her former mate. She ambushed him while he searched for herbs alongside RiverClan's two healers, but Bitterapple managed to convince her to stop before any of them could get hurt. He reveals Palm survived, and coaxed the molly to follow him back towards their kit's grave*.

* This is significant. RiverClan's "burials" involve tossing the body into the River, which is why they believe the cats taken by it are not being punished, but rather gently taken back to StarClan to spare them from a worse fate. When the kits were discovered, RiverClan attempted to nudge them back into the river, but Bitterapple instead gave them a ThunderClan style burial by clumsily digging a grave and planting a seed in their mouths. These seeds would later grow into trees.

Cloudberry, one of the healers, sneaked Palm out of camp to reunite with Orchidshade while she and Bitterapple had a talk. Upon meeting her only remaining kit, Orchidshade broke down. The broken family took one single evening to grieve together.

Bitterapple invited her back to RiverClan, willing to forge a sign from StarClan—one of the most grievous sins a seer could commit. But Orchidshade refused. Her grief had melted into pure, scorching fury. Anger hotter than the hottest of flames. She was at war. At war with StarClan for allowing the death of her kits. And at war with those who'd chased her away from the Clan she'd sworn loyalty. Darkstar would never accept her. RiverClan would never accept her. And even if she stayed, as soon as ThunderClan discovered her sins, Darkstar would happily hand her over to be sentenced to death.

With that in mind, Orchidshade turns away from her family and enters ThunderClan territory. That night, a thunderstorm rolled over the forest. The weather had been fierce and angry all quarter moon. Some say it is Thunder herself, or maybe even StarClan, punishing ThunderClan for the sin of turning away kits. Regardless, lightning struck a tree, and Orchidshade took one of its smoldering branches to help spread the fire. She wanted her Clan to choke, to die without breath just as her kits had.

The weather that had taken her kits from her, now handed her the very opportunity she needed for revenge.

The Clan evacuated as soon as they realized what was happening, but by then it was too late. Most managed to escape with only a few burns or a cough, but Oakstar stayed behind.

By the morning, when the fire had been extingued by rain, his carbonized corpse was found not far from camp. And Orchidshade was never seen again.

It was this incident that sparked change in the Law. The Law of Kits was reinforced, The Law of Clans modified and the Law of Seers too was modified.

Interclan relationships were allowed, though still heavily frowned upon. But because the kits in question were a seer's kits, and because of prior events involving those descended from seers; kits of seers were thus declared to be marked by death itself, and seers were hereby forbidden to ever have a mate or kits.